Greetings: While I agree with Linda Doran that ferrets do not pose much of a threat to the state of California, I would like to point out that southern California is indeed classified as having a Mediterranean climate, which simply means that it is a warm climate with the majority of the rainfall occuring during the winter months. It has nothing to do with what plants are found there (although there is an abundance of introduced olive trees in the area). If ferrets were capable of fending for themselves in the wild (which by all accounts, they can't), many areas in southern California would provide excellent habitat for the little beasts - the foothills of mountain ranges such as the San Gabriels and San Bernardinos, for instance. Thats it - no attack intended, just a climatology comment. Lurker [Posted in FML issue 1119]